Analog Man KING OF TONE overdrive pedal, older model info.
There are 2 channels available on the four knob King Of Tone by pressing the switch on the right. Each channel has it's own volume control and LED. We use SUPER BRIGHT Yellow and Red LEDs so you can easily tell which channel is selected. The switch on the left is a normal on/off switch, true bypass of course. There is also a master DRIVE and TONE control on the pedal. In addition, there is a TREBLE BOOST knob on the inside of the pedal. That is the white knob in the center left area in the picture below.
There is also a 3 or 4 position DIP switch on the inside of the KoT (red in the picture above), which you can use to choose between Clean, OD, and DISTORTION modes. I designed this switch to allow almost anyone to be able to find the exact sound they want in this pedal. The modes are:
1) Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound, - a little less drive available than a tube screamer. Factory DIP switch setting has this mode on the first (red) channel. This mode can get about 4 times louder than a tube screamer if desired.
2) CLEAN mode : This mode has less drive, can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It's like a clean boost with an overdrive knob. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed than the standard OD mode. The factory DIP switch setting uses this mode on the second (yellow) channel. This mode can get twice as loud as the OD mode. You can think of the clean mode as the OD mode with the overdrive lifted, allowing louder, clearer tone. That is actually what the switch does- it lifts the overdrive part of the circuit.
3) DISTORTION mode : This mode has more drive than the standard OD mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is more compressed, yet retains the King Of Tone character. This mode can get about twice as loud as a tube screamer. Think of this mode as a cross between a Boss DS-1 distortion and OD-1 overdrive, with more clarity. We recommend most players use the OD and CLEAN modes.
At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes- they all clean up very nicely. This pedal cleans up a lot better than a tube screamer type pedal, if you play softly or turn your guitar down they will not have the underlying fuzziness that most pedals have.
There are 3 or 4 DIP switches. The Factory setting setting makes the red channel OD mode and yellow CLEAN mode, so you can decide if you like one sound best, or would like to have both available.
You can set both channels to be normal OD mode (CLEAN mode will not be available) by moving one switch. You can set both channels to CLEAN mode (OD mode not available), by moving another switch.
The third DIP switch is for additional distortion, it puts both channels into DIST mode. When you turn it ON you get significantly more and harder distortion, and a little less volume. When this switch is on you can't get the normal OD or CLEAN modes- it is additional distortion ON TOP of those modes. You can choose any of the OD / CLEAN DIP settings along with the DIST setting. But once you turn on the DIST switch, the OD (actually OD/DIST) will sound pretty close to CLEAN (CLEAN/DIST) mode as both with have quite a bit of distortion. One of my customers (hi Jake!) found a way to get the 2 channels to have quite different levels of distortion. This can be accomplished because the King Of Tone gets cleaner when you turn your guitar's volume down. Turn the YELLOW channel volume up much higher then the RED channel, then back your guitar down when using the YELLOW channel and you will get a much cleaner sound at a similar volume to the RED channel.
Some four knob models have a 4th DIP switch. If it is a Ver2 board, it can turn off the DIM LED feature by setting it OFF. If it is a Ver3 4 knob model it is not used.
FEATURES
There are 2 channels available on this pedal by pressing the switch on the right. Each channel has it's own Volume and Drive control and LED. We use SUPER BRIGHT Yellow and Red LEDs so you can If the DRIVE knobs are set at quite different settings (one up high and one down low), there may be a POP when engaging the Yellow channel. This can happen when switching from RED to Yellow, or from OFF to Yellow. It's not bad, I used this version on my board, but it's annoying so we did not make a lot of Ver3 pedals. Instead, we made the Ver4 which had even more flexibility and no popping problems.
There is also a master TONE control on the pedal, which is active on both channels. In addition, there is a TREBLE BOOST knob on the inside of the pedal. Turn the treble boost all the way down for normal setting, most people may like it best turned up a few notches especially with a darker sounding guitar or amp.
There is also a 4 position DIP switch on the inside of the pedal, which you can use to choose between Clean or OD modes and a DISTORTION mode. I designed this switch to allow almost anyone to be able to find the exact sounds they want in this pedal. The modes are:
1) Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound- a little less drive available than a tube screamer. Factory DIP switch setting has this mode on the first (red) channel. This mode can get about 4 times louder than a tube screamer if desired.
2) CLEAN mode : This mode has less drive, can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It's sort of a cross between a true clean boost and an overdrive. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed than the standard OD mode. The factory DIP switch setting uses this mode on the second (yellow) channel. This mode can get twice as loud as the OD mode.
3) DISTORTION mode : This mode has more drive than the standard mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is a little more compressed, yet retains the pedal's character. This mode can get almost twice as loud as a tube screamer. Distortion mode is not available at the factory DIP switch setting.
At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes, they all can get pretty clean. The abilility to clean up when playing softly is a very useful feature of this pedal.
Ver3 DIP switch settings
There are 4 DIP switches. Factory setting is
1 2 3 4: OFF ON OFF ON (down, up, down, up)
This factory setting OFF ON OFF ON sets the red channel to OD and yellow to CLEAN. If you want both settings available, leave switches in this setting.
To set both channels to be OD mode (CLEAN mode will not be available)
then set switches to:
ON OFF OFF ON
To set both channels to CLEAN mode (OD not available), set to:
OFF OFF OFF ON
The third DIP switch is for DISTORTION mode on the YELLOW channel. The red channel is unchanged and can be set to OD or Clean mode as above. When you turn the DIST switch ON, you get significantly more and harder distortion and less volume on the yellow channel. You can choose any of the OD / CLEAN DIP settings along with the DIST setting. Best setting for DIST on yellow channel is probably the BOTH OD setting for OD on red, dist (on top of OD) on yellow: ON OFF ON ON.
The fourth DIP switch is to disable the relay which activates the 2nd drive knob and DIST mode. This allows running the pedal at super low current drain but both channels will use the 1st drive knob and DIST mode will not be available. Turn it OFF (down) if you want to disable the switching relay to save power (green mode!). It may also be quieter (less popping), as less switching will occur. This setting makes it the same as the old 4 knob KoT.
This pedal uses about 10mA of current at 9V, and only 6mA when off, or if the red channel is selected. The 2nd drive knob and DIST MODE may not function if your battery or power supply gets below 7 volts. Use a good Alkaline battery or 9V regulated power supply. Do not use more than 12V with this pedal as the relay could be damaged,
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